WeAreIBC

Forgive Them
Luke 23:26-34

“I am so bored with it all.” Winston Churchill
“I finally get to see Marilyn again.” Joe Dimaggio
“oh wow.” Steve Jobs
“Money can’t buy life.” Bob Marley
“Friends applaud, the comedy is finished.” Beethoven
banker Richard Mellon to his brother who he had a 7 decade game of tag, “Last tag”
Playwright Wilson Mizner to the priest, “why should I talk to you? I’ve just been talking to your boss.”
Groucho Marx, “Die my dear? Why, that's the last thing I'll do."

READ Luke 23:26-34

Isa. 53:12 Because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors

1. GOD FORGIVES ME GENEROUSLY.

Isaiah 55:7 - Let them turn to the Lord that he may have mercy on them. Yes, turn to our God, for he will forgive generously.

2. GOD FORGIVES ME COMPLETELY.

Colossians 2:13-14 - You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.

3. GOD FORGIVES ME REPEATEDLY.

Hebrews 7:25 - Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

4. GOD FORGIVES ME FREELY.

Ephesians 1:7 - He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins.
Acts 7:59 They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 Then he fell on his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he [a]fell asleep. NASB

The Kind of Worshipers the Father Seeks
Psalm 100:1-5 (ESV)

Matthew 15:8-9 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.

“Worship is to honor with extravagant love and extreme submission.” Webster's Dictionary,1828

“Redemption is the means; worship is the goal. In one sense, worship is the whole point of everything. It is the purpose of history, the goal of the whole Christian story. Worship is not one segment of the Christian life among others. Worship is the entire Christian life, seen as a priestly offering to God. And when we meet together as a church, our time of worship is not merely a preliminary to something else; rather, it is the whole point of our existence as the body of Christ.” –John Frame
“Worship is our response, both personal and corporate, to God for who He is, and what He has done; expressed in and by the things we say and the way we live.” -- Louie Giglio
“Worship is ascribing honor, glory, and respect to God; treasuring Him above all things.” – Allen Bonnell

John 4:23 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Pslam 100:1-5 Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
2 Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!
3 Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;[a]
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!
5 For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.” Luke 19:40

1. Worship with awe.

Hebrews 12:28-29 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Psalm 95:6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker!

2. Worship with abandon.

2 Samuel 6:14 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod.

2 Samuel 6:21-22 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince[a] over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will celebrate before the LORD. 22 I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your[b] eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor.”

3. Worship with intimacy.

Psalm 27:4 One thing have I asked of the LORD,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to inquire in his temple.

“Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” Hebrews 13:15-16


“O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me!
Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” Psalm 141:1-2

Who do you think you are?
Judges 6:11-23

Designed by God

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:13-14


Shaped by others

Judges
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. 12 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” 13 And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” 14 And the Lord[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?” 15 And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” 16 And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” 17 And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. 18 Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah[b] of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. 20 And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so. 21 Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. 22 Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” 23 But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”

Michaelangelo (pic of David)

Healed through the Father.
7 And David said to him, “Do not fear, for I will show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan, and I will restore to you all the land of Saul your father, and you shall eat at my table always.” 8 And he paid homage and said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?” 9 Then the king called Ziba, Saul's servant, and said to him, “All that belonged to Saul and to all his house I have given to your master's grandson. 2 Samuel 9:7-9
“But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “ God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” James 4:6

Choosing the Better
Learning to be Mary-ed

And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
LUKE 10:38-42

"We are so steeped in the error of working for God that we are determined to defend Martha. In straining to give her some due, some merit we are defending our own self-conscious labors and hoping they too will count with God. They will not. Make no mistake, Jesus scolded Martha.
Martha had chosen duty. Mary had chosen Jesus.
Adoration
Adoration Martha Kilpatrick.

"Work does not begin with work. God's work must begin with rest. It then moves out from rest to power and performance. Work that does not start with rest is work without Christ's approval or participation. Life is confusing, insolvable...Need screams your name.”
“You have nothing to give to Him until you are filled with Him."
Adoration
Adoration | Martha Kilpatrick, pp. 111, 113.

"Choosing can be casual, floating lazily with the tide. Indecision is a decision not to decide and as such…rules.”
Adoration
Adoration| Martha Kilpatrick

Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing but the flesh is week. Mark 14:38

They bear fruit in every good work and increase in the knowledge of GOD. - Colossians 1:10

Take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. - 2 Corinthians 10:5

10:5

"The power of influence is a scent rather than a speech, a mystery instead of an explanation. Influence can never be conscious. If it is conscious, it is manipulation and not inspiration."
Adoration
Adoration | Martha Kilpatrick, p.57

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word. but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. - Matthew 13:22

Let marriage be held in honor among all… - Hebrews 13:4

Who Am I?
1 Peter 2:9-10

“Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ.” Blaise Pascal

1 Peter 2:9-10 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

1. You are accepted.

“He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” Ephesians 1:6

2. You have purpose.

3. You are valuable.

“For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18

4. You are adopted.

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15

5. You are forgiven.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” Psalm 103:12

Your Next Step > Staying Where You Are
Mark 1:17

Vision Statement - Growing leaders to plant healthy churches in college towns across Kentucky and beyond for the glory of God.

Mark 1:17 “And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”

Following Jesus

Being changed by Jesus

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

(Vanny Testimony)

On mission with Jesus

(picture of Wyatt, Noah, Seth, and Will)

Not So With You
Mark 10:35-45

1. Everyone has a position on the team.
2. All the positions on the team are important.
3. The greatest position on the team is the lowest position.

(picture of Murrell fishing and the pics of Will and Jacob being baptized)

A. Serving increases your joy.

“But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.” Philippians 2:17

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Mark 8:35

B. Serving improves your relationships.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11

1 Peter 4:10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

C. Serving brings significance.

1 Corinthians 15:58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Your Priorities Determine Your Appointments
Mark 1:35-39

1. Time with God is a daily joy

“A Sunday religion, he who has it, will be lost.” - Charles Spurgeon.

“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” Psalm 5:3

2. Time with God was a priority.

“In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12

3. Time with God will have interruptions.

4. Time with God prepares you for your mission.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” Romans 1:16

“And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.” Mark 2:19-20

"HOPE IS COMING”
Malachi 3:1-12 & 4:4

1. The Lord had a plan (3:1-6)
2. The Lord wants us to TEST Him (3:7-12)
3. The Lord will fight for you. THE LORD OF ARMIES (HOSTS)
4. Remember God’s Word. (4:4)
"Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statues and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. “

“The Day of the Lord”
Zephaniah 1-3
1) On the Day of the Lord, God will come in Judgment
6 and those who turn back from following the Lord, who do not seek the Lord or inquire of him.
7 Be silent in the presence of the Lord God, for the day of the Lord is near. Indeed, the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated his guests.

Matthew 24
21 For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again.
22 Unless those days were cut short, no one would be saved. But those days will be cut short because of the elect.
23 “If anyone tells you then, ‘See, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘Over here!’ do not believe it.
24 For false messiahs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Matthew 24
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shed its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the peoples of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
31 He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
2) All have sinned against the Lord, but Repentance is still possible
1 Gather yourselves together; gather together, undesirable nation,
2 before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning of the Lord’s anger overtakes you, before the day of the Lord’s anger overtakes you.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth, who carry out what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be concealed on the day of the Lord’s anger. Judgment against the Nations
4 For Gaza will be abandoned, and Ashkelon will become a ruin. Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.
5 Woe, inhabitants of the seacoast, nation of the Cherethites! The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: I will destroy you until there is no one left.
6 The seacoast will become pasturelands with caves for shepherds and pens for sheep.
7 The coastland will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah; they will find pasture there. They will lie down in the evening among the houses of Ashkelon, for the Lord their God will return to them and restore their fortunes.
8 I have heard the taunting of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted my people and threatened their territory.
9 Therefore, as I live — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel — Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah: a place overgrown with weeds, a salt pit, and a perpetual wasteland. The remnant of my people will plunder them; the remainder of my nation will dispossess them.
10 This is what they get for their pride, because they have taunted and acted arrogantly against the people of the Lord of Armies.
11 The Lord will be terrifying to them when he starves all the gods of the earth. Then all the distant coasts and islands of the nations will bow in worship to him, each in its own place.
12 You Cushites will also be slain by my sword.
13 He will also stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria; he will make Nineveh a desolate ruin, dry as the desert.

3) God demonstrates His grace by Restoring His people to Himself
1 Woe to the city that is rebellious and defiled, the oppressive city!
2 She has not obeyed; she has not accepted discipline. She has not trusted in the Lord; she has not drawn near to her God.
3 The princes within her are roaring lions; her judges are wolves of the night, which leave nothing for the morning.

6 I have cut off nations; their corner towers are destroyed. I have laid waste their streets, with no one to pass through. Their cities lie devastated, without a person, without an inhabitant.
7 I said: You will certainly fear me and accept correction. Then her dwelling place would not be cut off based on all that I had allocated to her. However, they became more corrupt in all their actions.
8 Therefore, wait for me  — this is the Lord’s declaration — until the day I rise up for plunder. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, in order to pour out my indignation on them, all my burning anger; for the whole earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy.

9 For I will then restore pure speech to the peoples so that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him with a single purpose.
10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my supplicants, my dispersed people, will bring an offering to me.
11 On that day you will not be put to shame because of everything you have done in rebelling against me. For then I will remove from among you your jubilant, arrogant people, and you will never again be haughty on my holy mountain.
12 I will leave a meek and humble people among you, and they will take refuge in the name of the Lord.
13 The remnant of Israel will no longer do wrong or tell lies; a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will pasture and lie down, with nothing to make them afraid.
14 Sing for joy, Daughter Zion; shout loudly, Israel! Be glad and celebrate with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has removed your punishment; he has turned back your enemy. The King of Israel, the Lord, is among you; you need no longer fear harm.
16 On that day it will be said to Jerusalem: “Do not fear; Zion, do not let your hands grow weak.
17 The Lord your God is among you, a warrior who saves. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will be quiet in his love. He will delight in you with singing.”
18 I will gather those who have been driven from the appointed festivals; they will be a tribute from you and a reproach on her.
19 Yes, at that time I will deal with all who oppress you. I will save the lame and gather the outcasts; I will make those who were disgraced throughout the earth receive praise and fame.
20 At that time I will bring you back, yes, at the time I will gather you. I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes. The Lord has spoken.